Could ten women be wrong? A book I read recently featured nine counselees and their therapist, who took turns sharing their life stories. Though it was fiction, my takeaway point was… their view of marriage was scary! Not one woman in ten held the God-ordained institution in very high esteem. You would think the Creator had designed…
“How can you be more concerned about your mamá’s grave than about your little granddaughter growing up without God?” I challenged the Chilean women in my Bible study a few months ago. Like Gandalf, the wise wizard in The Return of the King, I pointed out the tragedy of those who value their tombs more…
Why bring up beach season in January, you might wonder? Because here in the Southern Cone of South America, we’re reveling in the dog days of mid-summer now. Come hell (tourist traffic) or high water (tsunami warning after a major tremor), we head to the long gray beaches of our city every chance we get….
“May you live all the days of your life,” wrote Jonathan Swift. A great goal, but at the end of your life-journey, what would you want written to summarize it? My dad’s tombstone reads, “SAFELY HOME.” Beautiful. And so appropriate for the gentle, hard-working man that he was. God’s epitaph over King David’s life (via…
In writer’s terminology, a WIP is a Work-in-Progress. Our lives, like my books, are a work-in-progress. They’re in process. In preparation, on the path to perfection. When friends ask (some with dubious confidence, I suspect) how my latest project, Anchor at Alcázar Reef, is coming along, I share about four factors that indicate the status…
Instead of ringing in 2019 armed with a list of well-meant resolutions or creating an ambitious strategy to accomplish your goals, why not consider a makeover of the Bucket List idea? This year I’ve resolved: Enough with the endless catalogue of what I dream of doing before I kick the bucket—whether it’s climb the Eiffel…
A scowl, more like a low growl… that’s what I felt like giving the little girl who crashed into my cart at the supermarket this morning. Instead, I offered her a smile for Jesus’ sake. Call it my present for the Savior today, and you know what? It even worked to defuse both her tension…
Besides a good story, what can you discover in a month-long Writing Marathon? During November, in between Thanksgiving dinner, Christmas baking, housecleaning and houseguests, speaking at a women’s retreat and hosting two parties–I wrote 50,289 words in 30 days. That’s around 200 pages, as part of Anchor at Alcázar Reef, my Work-in-Progress, which will soon…
On the opening page of Destiny at Dolphin Bay, Melissa Travis must write an essay on her unofficial studies while visiting her missionary sister in an isolated area of South America. Poised on the brink of stirring times, she has little idea at first of living through history—let alone of altering it. Just like some…
“Are any of your books somewhat autobiographical?” a friend asked me. “Is Destiny at Dolphin Bay your own story?” A clear, resounding no. And then again, yes, of course. Every story, every setting, every character contains a fragment of myself and my own experiences. Sometimes reality so entwines with imagination that it’s hard to pick…
“If you extract the precious from the worthless, you will be my spokesman” –God to the prophet Jeremiah (15:19), 500 B.C. Through the mouth of Prospero in The Tempest, the Bard of Avon (yes, Shakespeare!) spoke of sea-changes–the transformation of the dead-at-sea into other materials and forms: Pearls, coral, food and homes for underwater creatures, gardens and…
